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eBay Hooray!

tashley

Subscriber Member
I picked up a Mamiya Sekor 150mm F3.5 for close to nothing on eBay before Christmas and only just got round to giving it a proper spin and it's a sweetie on the Phamiya/P45+ combo. Sure, exposure is a pain (I have to use a meter and haven't quite got my head around why I can't find a way of making hte one in the camera do it but I am having a Doh! day) but at F8 and above it is sharp side to side and corner to corner and easy to focus. Yum! Finally I realise I had the gestalt wrong with this digital MF lark: cheaper is better...

:)
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Set your camera in "A" mode and set the metering pattern to Average, and simply select the aperture you want to shoot with on the lens. With non-electronic interface lenses the camera will default to spot if you have metering set to Evaluative, and unless you know how to use a spot meter you will not be happy with the exposure results ;)
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Set your camera in "A" mode and set the metering pattern to Average, and simply select the aperture you want to shoot with on the lens. With non-electronic interface lenses the camera will default to spot if you have metering set to Evaluative, and unless you know how to use a spot meter you will not be happy with the exposure results ;)
Jack, you're a star: that is a simple but incredibly useful tip. Thank you!
Tim
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Hey Jack,

It seems that with this lens, (it's a non-AF version but it does have an Auto/Manual switch on the barrel for aperture control) there are no electrical contacts and thus the camera only allows spot metering: I can't find any way of forcing the camera to meter in Average mode. Also the instruction book for the camera says that stop down metering is not supported for many older lenses. Am I missing something?

I do hope so!

Best

T
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Hi Tim:

I edited this response for clarification:

On the camera, set the metering pattern switch to [: :], and not [:-:] or [ - ]. (Edit: On the AFD3 body a manual lens defaults to spot metering -- [ - ] -- regardless of how the metering pattern is set, so this only works with AFD2 bodies.)

Stop down manual metering or Av metering will work reliably on the AFD2 or AFD3 bodies to about f8 then it starts to get "iffy". The workaround is to meter more open, then manually adjust to equivalent EV for smaller apertures. (I use manual lenses in manual exposure mode for this reason, except the lenses I use for their wide-open look like the 80/1.9 or 110/2, which I normally use only near their maximum aperture anyway, so Av works great.)

An AFD3 body tip: Note that when in M or manual exposure mode on the AFD3 body, if you hold the AEL button down for more than a second, the shutter speed will automatically adjust to the correct level for the set aperture(!) Edit: This works with AF, MF or 3rd party lenses.

The lever on the side of the lens is the original stop down lever, I leave mine in the stop down position so that the lens changes aperture as I adjust it on the lens. There is mechanical linkage in that lens that was actuated in the manual bodies for auto stop down, but that actuator linkage is not present in the AF bodies.

Hope this helps!
 
Last edited:

tashley

Subscriber Member
Hi Tim:

I edited this response for clarification:

On the camera, set the metering pattern switch to [: :], and not [:-:] or [ - ]. (Edit: On the AFD3 body a manual lens defaults to spot metering -- [ - ] -- regardless of how the metering pattern is set, so this only works with AFD2 bodies.)

Stop down manual metering or Av metering will work reliably on the AFD2 or AFD3 bodies to about f8 then it starts to get "iffy". The workaround is to meter more open, then manually adjust to equivalent EV for smaller apertures. (I use manual lenses in manual exposure mode for this reason, except the lenses I use for their wide-open look like the 80/1.9 or 110/2, which I normally use only near their maximum aperture anyway, so Av works great.)

An AFD3 body tip: Note that when in M or manual exposure mode on the AFD3 body, if you hold the AEL button down for more than a second, the shutter speed will automatically adjust to the correct level for the set aperture(!) Edit: This works with AF, MF or 3rd party lenses.

The lever on the side of the lens is the original stop down lever, I leave mine in the stop down position so that the lens changes aperture as I adjust it on the lens. There is mechanical linkage in that lens that was actuated in the manual bodies for auto stop down, but that actuator linkage is not present in the AF bodies.

Hope this helps!
Hi Jack,

Thank you! The edited version tallies with my reality (I was scratching my head before!) and I have indeed found that as you say the exposure gets a bit 'iffy' at smaller apertures but nothing that a bit of thought and some bracketing won't deal with!
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, I had to test it out with my AFD3 body last night as I had never specifically paid attention to what happened to the metering pattern when a manual lens was mounted. Of course I *assumed* it worked the same way as the AFD2 body -- and we know what that makes me!

:eek:
 
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